Dialogue in the princess’s living room Liu Jun, global vice president of xinnuofei and general manager of cross border law − Uncategorized − China International Legal Affairs & Culture Exchange Center

Dialogue in the princess’s living room Liu Jun, global vice president of xinnuofei and general manager of cross border law

On June 16, the live version of falaohui “princess’s living room” was successfully held in Shanghai. This activity is the first in Shanghai station after the upgrade of the princess’s living room column. Since the live report of the first upgraded version of the princess’s living room held in GC house / GC salon in Beijing on June 10, everyone has asked about the schedule of the Shanghai show. Shanghai is also an important position of falaohui. Many fans gather here. Naturally, the princess will not forget the arrangement. The first guest interviewed in Shanghai was also selected by the princess. She is an absolutely different and refreshing beauty, general manager FA. She is Ms. Liu Jun, global vice president of xinnuofei (China) Investment Co., Ltd. and general manager of legal affairs and compliance department & Investment and M & a department in Northeast Asia.

Liu Jun began to work as a lawyer in 1993 and has worked in large domestic law firms and multinational companies for more than 9 and 16 years respectively. Since 2005, he has served as the general counsel of the Asia Pacific region of large US listed companies. As one of the management members of the Asia Pacific region, he has been responsible for the legal affairs and compliance affairs of the Asia Pacific region, as well as the business development / investment and M & A affairs of the Asia Pacific region for a long time, helping enterprises grow rapidly in the Asia Pacific region and establish the company’s compliance system. Joined Philips Lighting in January 2016 (renamed “xinnuofei” in May 2018), responsible for legal and compliance affairs in Greater China, one of the main management in Greater China, and reported directly to the general legal adviser of the headquarters. In July 2020, he was also responsible for investment and M & A in Greater China. In May 2021, responsible for Northeast Asia. Lawyer Liu has transformed from an initial civil servant to a lawyer, from a lawyer to GC, and then cross-border GA and BD. he can be called a “generalist”, and his life experience can be called an inspirational blockbuster. Below, falaohui will bring you her wonderful sharing in the form of Q & A.

Q1：
The group leader first asked, Lawyer Liu, can you share your career development experience with us?

A: I graduated from university in 1991 and worked in the government for a year and a half. He passed the lawyer qualification examination in 92 and obtained the lawyer qualification. He became a lawyer in 93 and went to graduate school in 96. After graduation, he worked as a lawyer in China. In 2004, I went to the United States to study LL M. After graduation, he joined a listed company in the United States and engaged in legal compliance of multinational companies. In addition to legal compliance, I have been responsible for the company’s BD (i.e. investment and M & A) since 2010. In this process, I have more opportunities to understand the company’s business and strategy. At the beginning of 2011, I studied in-service EMBA in sponsor, and obtained an MBA in 2013. I thought I could work in this company until I retired. However, in 2013, this US listed company was acquired by another US listed company. In the few months after moving to the new company, I felt that due to the differences in culture and philosophy, I changed to another large US listed company in 2013. In January 2016, I chose Philips Lighting to be responsible for legal and compliance affairs in Greater China, because I actually led many mergers and acquisitions. Later, the M & a department was also under my responsibility. In April 2021, the organizational structure of the company changed, and I was responsible for the whole Northeast Asia.

For our legal staff, we may focus more on the field of legal, but from the perspective of professional development, if we want to develop to the top, such as participating in the formulation of the company’s strategy and the implementation of business strategy, leading some important projects of the company, we need to cross the border, jump out of the thinking of legal staff and accumulate other knowledge, For example, the accumulation of management and financial knowledge is particularly important. If you understand these things, you can easily communicate with the business. We should keep a curiosity. If we can devote ourselves to new business or new challenges, we can tap our own potential. In this way, we are not only an in house, but also many other career development opportunities.

Q2：
Is it difficult for law students to learn financial knowledge?
A: No. At that time, I just joined the American company to do legal affairs in 2005. Our Asia Pacific region had a talent training plan, which included financial courses. Later, I went to the headquarters for the training of VP level executives. It was a mini EMBA course at Rice University in the United States, including financial courses. Later, I took part in EMBA, in which there were many financial courses. These will also be used in my work. When we see the financial report of the target company, we will have a preliminary concept of the company’s situation, understand its past performance and future industry development trend, and then evaluate the value of the enterprise through the financial model.

Q3：
Can you tell me about your experience in BD?
A: Many people may think that legal and BD are not completely compatible, but I think legal still has many advantages in doing BD or M & A. In the process of participating in M & A, we have a better understanding of what to do and are familiar with policies, regulations and processes. Many BDS come from the “big four”. Their advantage may be that they know the financial model and conventional M & a technical skills, but they may not be familiar with the design of transaction architecture, the whole transaction process, government approval and some terms and conditions.

Q4：
When you are doing legal and BD, how do you balance the two identities?
A: Just now I said that legal has natural advantages in doing BD, because it is more familiar with the process, and legal has a high ability to judge various risks. In the process of doing BD, it knows better what kind of opportunities to seize and how to control if there are risks. We also understand that what are the red lines that must not be touched. If it is not the red line, we must try our best to solve it and help the company achieve the goal of inorganic growth as much as possible. Both serve the company’s business strategy, so I don’t think the two identities of legal and BD are contradictory. Moreover, if major problems are involved, BD, legal and other relevant departments need to find solutions and submit them to the Investment Committee of the headquarters for approval.

Q5：
How to get the understanding and support of other departments?
A: I think we really need to understand the business, the way they do things, daily communication, and avoid speaking French as much as possible. In addition, in addition to the legal red line, we should help them find solutions. You can’t stay in the office all day, so you can’t see the problem. You can attend their business meetings regularly. Of course, they may not invite you to the meeting, so it is necessary to find an entry point, slowly build trust, let them understand that you are not looking for trouble, but provide better support after understanding the business, and help them understand and reduce some legal and compliance risks. After such a long time, people will not avoid you and may welcome you.

Q6：
Is M & A an important direction for personal development?
A: I don’t quite think so. Of course, M & A has the opportunity to contact some senior executives, such as the CEO and CFO of the group. You have some interaction with these executives. However, it is not necessary to do M & A. as long as you participate in some cross departmental cooperation projects of the company, you can also have good development. Questioner (added): it may also be related to the business characteristics of each company. Like PwC, we may pay more attention to quality risk, and there may be some disputes and lawsuits in the capital market. It may be that the companies where Liu worked before just happened to be more important in M & A. I think this is an opportunity for her. With different industry characteristics, each legal also has its own opportunity.

Q7：
Some experience in team building
A: To be honest, at present, each legal council of our company has reached a certain maturity, and they are authorized to make independent judgment and deal with their responsible field or bu. However, if the problem or matter is listed as a major matter within our department, they will align with me at the first time,. For newcomers, it still needs a period of communication and supervision. When their ability to deal with business reaches a certain level, I will let them do it. Therefore, employment can enable them to have ownership. If I feel that I have contributed to this matter, I will have a sense of achievement. We also have a good corporate culture. For example, the Ministry of justice organizes training every week, such as learning the civil code, studying some hot issues, or sharing experience of important projects, which is conducive to everyone’s communication and improvement. In addition, we also engage in some group building activities, such as visiting the market and large projects of the company, understanding customers’ opinions, organizing outdoor activities, participating in charity activities, and having a happy meal and drink occasionally. At the end of the interview, the princess specially interviewed the guests’ feelings. At this time, the princess noticed that all the guests who came to the event today were girls! It turned out to be a beautiful forensic afternoon tea time. Each guest talked about their feelings and messages to the column, and felt that they had gained a lot. Let’s look forward to the next “group master’s living room”!

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